Alcaraz on course for an indoor hat-trick: “Probably the best I’ve played since my comeback”
Champion in Vienna, then in Paris after beating Ben Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 in Sunday’s final, Carlos Alcaraz heads to Turin with the chance to complete the indoor treble Jannik Sinner achieved in 2025. The Spaniard explained why the four and a half months he spent at home with a wrist injury now help him make up for lost time.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rolex Paris Masters 2026 | © Ch. Caillaud / PsNewz
Carlos Alcaraz needed two months to get back to his best and, it seems, to become better than ever on indoor hard courts, where he once struggled. After Vienna and Paris, he heads to Turin on course for an indoor hat-trick, the same treble Jannik Sinner completed in 2025, the year Alcaraz won his first indoor title in Rotterdam. The Spaniard, sidelined for four and a half months by a wrist injury this season, is making up for lost time, with hunger and control.
“These last two weeks have probably been the best that I’ve played since my comeback,” Alcaraz said after beating Ben Shelton 7-6 (5), 7-5 to win the Rolex Paris Masters, a title Rafael Nadal never won. “In terms of tennis, I can match this week with Vienna, where I felt really comfortable. But I would say that this week, I made one step forward mentally.”
“I had a lot of really tough moments during the matches,” he explained. “I was internally fighting with myself, trying to be positive, trying to stay strong mentally and not letting those negative thoughts get into the game. I’m just really happy that I controlled my emotions and my thoughts in every moment, in every single match.”
The turning point came in the quarter-finals, when he saved two match points against Taylor Fritz. “From Taylor’s match, I got a lot of information, a lot to learn, a lot to improve if I really wanted to win this tournament,” he said. “I realized that I really have to go for it all the time, and have the determination to go for it even more in the toughest moments.”
How the injury “helped” Alcaraz
The wrist injury cost him Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. Speaking in Spanish, Alcaraz chose to look on the bright side of that period. “Obviously, nobody wants to miss important tournaments, but I always try to be a very positive person and think about the good side of things,” he said. “For four and a half months, we kept training, but we were at home with my people, with my family, doing other things that fulfilled me. And I didn’t put my body under stress for a long time, as playing everything would have done.”
“So yes, the four and a half months away helped me a lot to reach this part of the season fresh, with ambition, eager to go to practice, eager to improve,” he added. “I think it has shown in these last tournaments. I have improved a lot in terms of my game, my serve and on a personal level.”
Turin, the title Alcaraz still lacks
The ATP Finals (November 15-22), a title he has yet to win, come next. “The ATP Finals is the best event in the world [on the ATP Tour]. That’s what we are working for during the whole year, to qualify for that tournament,” he said. “It’s obvious that this is a tournament we want to win one day. I don’t know if it’s going to be this year, next year, or if I will ever be able to win it, but I’m going to work hard and believe that I can. I’m going there this year with a lot of confidence.”
He refuses, however, to call himself the favorite, despite reaching the final in 2025. “It is harmful,” he said in Spanish. “We try not to think about it. We’ll go to Turin, train, try to be as good and as comfortable as possible, get the best feelings we can and go all out, compete and stay strong mentally.”
The Davis Cup will follow. “I think we also have a good team to win the Davis Cup,” he said. “These are two very important and very nice weeks ahead of us.” Alcaraz, it seems, would rather this part of the season never ended.
